Building Bridges
by frosted.leaves
Summary: Because Iruka’s still a prankster at heart and Naruto doesn’t follow the conventional. AU. pre-canon Oneshot


* * *

Kishi is rich, I'm not. Guess why?

inspired a scene in 'Shaman's crossing'. I think…

Title: Bridge Building

Author: Frostedleaves

Date fin: 13.8.07

Series: Naruto

Summary: Because Iruka's still a prankster at heart and Naruto doesn't follow the conventional. AU. pre-canon Oneshot

* * *

-

The academy students were lead into a spacious clearing that was divided by a ten foot wide, rushing river. And on their side of the river were heaps of material (wooden planks and rope) and various tools.

Iruka smiled, "Your objective: To cross to the other side."

The children immediately chattered in excitement at the announcement, all, that was, except one blond haired child that gazed at the river with wide blank eyes.

"You have an hour to complete the task," he said generously, "or you fail. You may use the allocated equipment and trade with others. Any questions?" Iruka paused.

No response.

Iruka frowned slightly and shrugged. "Alright then, I'll assign you into groups. No fussing now."

* * *

As the class trotted off to their chosen area, the blank faced Naruto was left standing in front of Iruka, alone.

"Master Iruka," he said, his pale blue eyes screening Iruka's poker face briefly before deciding that the ground was much more expressive. "Will I be working with you?"

"You'll be working solo," Iruka said dismissively. "Knock yourself out." And he gazed at Naruto's disinterested face challengingly.

Naruto stood frozen for a moment longer before finally meeting Iruka's stare unflinchingly. He then turned his attention to his rather industrious classmates, the tools and materials, Iruka, the river and then back at Iruka… Naruto finally gave a short, sharp jerk of his head in Iruka's direction and walked rather slowly over to the edge of the bank and sat himself down, ignoring his own pile of tools.

Iruka spied on him, from the corner of his eyes, but Naruto just stared at the swirling water, not budging an inch. Stubborn kid, Iruka thought.

Iruka found himself a leafy tree at the edge of the clearing and watched the rest of the children scratch their heads. How indeed do you cross a river? Conventional academy taught bridges began appearing as groups spied on one another. However, anything built from the given material would be structurally unsound. Of course, that was because all the materials had been rigged that way. The pieces were all too short, too long, too narrow, or too wide. Rather annoying actually. For them.

Iruka smiled.

He checked the timer. It was 20 minutes into the test and he could see that one group had abandoned a wooden bridge altogether, opting for a rope bridge. Iruka had to give them credit for that, they were after all, only nine years old, even if they were heading in the opposite direction. He sighed, all the children were going about this test in the wrong way. He glanced sideways at the unmoving Naruto. No response there. Iruka had never seen Naruto sit fast in one place for more than five seconds, let alone 20 minutes in the same spot, in the same position. Naruto was quiet but not _this_ quiet. He didn't think Naruto was even blinking! Just what was so interesting there anyway?

Some groups were building makeshift rafts (a definite fail), some, the traditional basic bridge and…was that a catapult?! There were actually groups that had literally fallen to pieces, refusing to listen and cooperate or drawing blanks on ideas on how to cross to the other side. Look around you! Even with the shocking ineptitude of most of the class, inspiration could have still be drawn from them.

Rolling his eyes in frustration, Iruka pinched and pulled at his cheeks. Oh how the mighty had fallen. Konoha was breeding its own destruction, never mind the hostile forces from outside. Those silly, arguing children were duly noted.

* * *

Finally, with ten minutes to spare, most of the children were nearing the completions of their various dubious contraptions and were easing it over the edge of the muddy bank. Naruto stirred.

Iruka had been fairly disappointed in this year's batch of students. Most of them were naïve, unfocused and barely interested, some too soft, too passive, and the rest scarcely had enough talent to make a halfway decent ninja. They were unprepared and misunderstood what being a ninja meant. They didn't even realise the true objective of the test. But so far, Naruto had yet to do anything, promising nothing and yet everything. He'd see what Naruto would do.

Naruto stretched.

Iruka wanted to sigh. That was, until he recognised the basic academy taught exercises designed to quicken the heart rate and loosen tense muscles and ligaments, leaving the body pumped, supply and ready for action. It was something not taught until second year and Naruto had barely gone through one semester of academy. The sneaky little bastard. Iruka would have to keep a tighter watch around Naruto.

And Iruka almost smiled as he heard the typical Naruto grumblings from the normally silent child. He'd forgotten that Naruto hated to get wet. He'd be sure to check the doorway, the blackboard, his office, his desk, his chair, and amusingly enough, the school toilets for the revenge Naruto would leave for Iruka to find as a nasty surprise.

Naruto was a notorious closet pranker, also fondly known as 'up urs' for his ingenious imagination, which was, at best, inventive and at worst, horrifically terrifying, his well thought, well placed surprise attacks and his devious streak that was at least a mile wide. Naruto had the skill and wit to match his legendary name, honed from years of experience, and tempered by academy teachings. However, Iruka was better. He hadn't been knocked off his throne yet, to which he was undeniably proud of. All of the pranksters, including the deviant 'up urs', deferred to his alter ego, King.

Within the remaining five minutes, most of the bridges were in place over the water, some wobbling precariously. Other bridges creaked and groaned under the student's combined weight but somehow miraculously held. Throughout the test, the students tip toed across and built the bridge inch by inch. However, some weren't so lucky. A few bridges actually shattered, or worse, unraveled! Iruka sighed. Such sloppy knot work. He would have to go through that lesson again.

Seemingly unaware of the frenzied scrambling of his fellow classmates, Naruto slid unceremoniously down the rushing river bank, splashing waist deep into the frigid water. Winter of course, was always Iruka's favourite season. And Naruto's steady progress through the wide freezing river was followed by several frozen figures (some were even clutching each other on the open swaying bridges) and Iruka's appraising gaze. Iruka watched Naruto slip a little clambering up the bank but managed to right the unbalance with ease.

Naruto then turned around to meet the disbelieving faces on the other side and shook himself with a frown that showed his disgust plainly. Fat droplets of water went flying in the air. He would have to clear Naruto's aversion to water before it developed into something detrimental like outright fear, Iruka brooded to himself. No point in spoiling something so promising because of such a little flaw that could be nipped in the bud in the early stages.

The students still on the bank and the ones suspended over the rushing river continued staring at Naruto. Iruka smiled as he watched the timer count down the seconds. And Naruto stopped mid-shake to stare back.

The timer beeped.

Nobody moved.

But then, the bridge with the students on top collapsed in a flurry of limbs and ear-splitting shrieks of fear and surprise. Iruka stared blank faced at the commotion before he sat back against the tree, sighing. His class's performance had been dreadfully unsatisfactory. He'd let the students sort themselves out this time. After all, none of them had passed. However, surprisingly… Iruka's eyes wandered over to the lone, drenched figure on the other side.

In the midst of all the fuss, Naruto had abandoned his shaking and seemed to be plucking at his wet clothes mournfully and there was a spark of something usually absent in Naruto's face. But all that occurred went unnoticed, except for Iruka. And the strange sixth sense Naruto seemed to possess that made him so difficult to pin down after a particularly underhanded prank.

It was a trait present in only the elite of elite of ninjas.

Naruto had stiffened in awareness and was glancing around cautiously. Iruka smiled inwardly as Naruto almost immediately spotted him. Naruto caught his eye and held his gaze. And feeling almost unbearably proud, he watched as Naruto flashed a 'v' from both hands, mouthing, "King, believe it!"

* * *

-fin-


End file.
